[arin-ppml] Policy Proposal 2008-6: Emergency TransferPolicyforIPv4 Addresses - Last Call

[Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond]

Leo Bicknell wrote:

>Here's the interesting dynamic; there is almost no first-mover
>advantage to deploying IPv6 first.  You want to deploy it before
>your customers want it, so you don't have to turn them away; and
>you want your engineers to have experience with it.  However, beyond
>that it doesn't get you extra revenue, and may make you purchase
>equipment you would not otherwise purchase, run newer software with
>more bugs, etc.
>
>We see ISP's state this over and over, the customers do not want
>it, so we're not doing it.

(forgive me for this rant - I know it's a rant, but I just have to get this 
off my chest.
Leo, this is not aimed at you - I am aiming this at the community as a 
whole, because I am saddened to read the dynamic which you describe and 
which I have also noticed. Sadly, "dynamic" is too much of a positive word 
to use)

I have now heard this "no advantage for deploying IPv6" speech so many times 
from so many people, that I understand why recession has hit us.

Those of us who were in Silicon Valley in the 1990s (and I was only there 
for a short while, but I met with many young industry pioneers), there was a 
pioneering spirit which brought technical and marketing genius together, 
along with funding from people who believed in this genius. Everybody was 
looking forward to the future and some of the most successful companies out 
there were created around that time. Companies providing a lot of jobs and 
generating  lot of revenue. "Can we do it? YES WE CAN!" was what I used to 
hear every day.

Today instead, most people seem to be looking at the past. IPv4 transfer 
policies monopolise discussions. Some say IPv6 might *never* be 
implemented - do you use electricity at home or are you still running with 
candles?
This is the past! I see no imagination, no innovation, no foresight, no 
vision of the future in any of the points made by v6 nay-sayers. I also see 
no proof that IPv6 rollout will be as expensive as it is rumoured to be (by 
them). How else would French ISP free.fr function if it was such an 
expensive thing to roll-out IPv6? Read through their documentation and 
you'll find out that they faced only a fraction of the problems advertised 
by those individuals warning of v6 doom.

When did innovation stop living in Silicon Valley? So your 20 year old 
legacy system will stop working? It's about time you replace it! We don't 
drive steam cars anymore, so don't complain if they stopped selling coal at 
the gas station.

Best wishes,
O.

-- 
Olivier MJ Crépin-Leblond, PhD
http://www.gih.com/ocl.html